THE HINDU

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 11

Chennai
Text&Context
FROM THE ARCHIVES

Do exams throttle India’s

up to Grade 8 — has now been amended
by Parliament. States are now once again
free to introduce a Board exam. Some
have already moved towards that by

education system?
reintroducing at Grade 5 and Grade 8
levels an exam that can classify children
into pass and fail categories. This was the
old system. This reversal of a progressive
step that the RTE had taken also shows
One big function of exams is to create an illusion of equal opportunity in an otherwise highly unequal society. how accustomed our system is to this old
and rigid practice of examining children
It is in the exam that all children — no matter what their background is — face the same test of three hours one against the other.
In comparison, European systems,
G. Ananthakrishnan including the British system on which we
were modelled originally, have moved on FROM THE ARCHIVES
As exam season approaches, this interview to far more holistic and humanistic ways
by G. Ananthakrishnan, with Krishna of assessing each child’s own growth
Kumar and Rohit Dhankar, from June 14,
2019, talks about India’s education system
and how exams are not a benchmark of a
trajectory right from the beginning. Even
where there are public exams, they are
taken with much greater care for
Know your
student’s potential. Edited excerpts:

he importance accorded to
objectivity and justice for every child.

In the draft National Education Policy

English
T school­leaving examinations in
India puts enormous pressure
on students to score the
highest possible marks. But how scientific
is the examination system at determining
2019, there is an idea that we can shift
to modular exams rather than one
single exam. Is this actual reform?
KK: This idea has been given many times
earlier. And the National Institute of Open
K. Subrahmanian

“Mr. R. Balamurugan, Thillainagar,

Thanjavur, wants to know the meaning of
the progress of students? In a Schooling does provide the facility for the prefix ‘tele’.”
conversation moderated by G. taking one subject at a time, when “ ‘Tele’ in Greek means ‘distant’.
Ananthakrishnan, Krishna Kumar, former completing your examination process ‘Telephone’ means ‘distant sound’.
director, National Council of Educational over three­four years if necessary. I don’t
e2247534

Research and Training and Rohit Dhankar
, Professor of Philosophy of Education at
Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, talk
about the education system.
The school­leaving exam is a defining
one in the life of a student. What
outcomes do these exams actually
achieve?
Krishna Kumar: This examination
system is something that reminds us of
the beginnings of the modern education
system in India. The school­leaving
examination was designed in the latter
half of the 19th century as a way to
determine who can be selected for
further education, which was very scarce
at that time, and also for lower­level jobs
in offices. It was basically a means of
elimination. And it has remained that all
the way up to now. The Grade 10 exam,
for instance, fails a large number of
children and stops them from going any
further. This is a kind of structural
arrangement in a system in which
secondary education is not very
widespread and higher secondary
education is even less so. Opportunities
for further education at the
undergraduate level or various kinds of
technical education are also relatively
scarce.
So, the exam system acts as a custodian
which doesn’t permit a vast number of
children to go forward. It has acquired its
legitimacy over the century, and therefore
it is not questioned, but it has very little
scientific basis, and it is not a system of
any kind of valid assessment of the
potential of a young person. Rather, it is a
means of keeping out [children]. In what
manner can you be stopped from going
further? Grade 10 is the most draconian
barrier, Grade 12 also fails a large number
of children.
That is one function of the examination
system. The other big function is to create
an illusion of equal opportunity in an
otherwise highly unequal society. It is in
the exam that all children — no matter
what their background is, or whether
they study in a posh school or a poor
school — face the same test of three hours.
Their names are turned into roll
numbers. The identity of paper­setters
and evaluators is not revealed. Thus,
confidentiality enhances the legitimacy of
a situation where children from
contrasting circumstances are given an
equal­looking opportunity.
Rohit Dhankar: I agree. The problem
is well­known for quite some time. The
first mention of the educational system
being throttled by exams was in 1904 in
THE DAILY QUIZ
the Indian Educational Policy, at the time
formulated by the Governor General in
Council. After that this was mentioned in
every commission and report. They
always try to say exams should be
reformed and something should be done
about it. As far as reliability of children’s
understanding, acquiring knowledge and
ways of formulating knowledge are
concerned, I don’t think the examination
system leaves much scope. Children do
acquire snippets of information, but
whether they construct that into
knowledge remains seriously doubtful. I
feel that this is also an outcome of intense
competition in society. As long as the
school structure and the structure of the
curriculum remain as it is today, where
every child has to finish certain kinds of
learning in a given time, and at the same
time the possibility of children exploring
on their own is limited, it seems that the
exam system cannot be changed.
If one changes these two things — the
structure of the school and the
curriculum — and somehow an alternative
way is found which ameliorates the high
competition in the parents’ mind, there is
a possibility of reforming the system in
such a manner that it is more insightful
GETTY IMAGES
and less stressful.
How does India’s exam system
compare with the systems of other
countries?
KK: Our system compares very poorly
with the evaluation and assessment
systems which are in place in other
societies, including European and North
American societies as well as China.
These societies have reformed their
evaluation systems from within by
improving teachers’ understanding of
what they are looking for in a child right
from the start. In our case, we don’t equip
our teachers with a deep understanding
of how children learn and how to assess a
child’s growth. Our system right from the
beginning becomes intensely competitive
and stressful and starts promoting
cramming as a way to move forward with
high marks.
A recent attempt made in the Right to
Education (RTE) Act to introduce
Continuous and Comprehensive
Evaluation (CCE) was an important step
but this was not welcomed by a large
number of schools and State authorities.
And the idea that the RTE introduced —
that we will not have a Board examination
think this idea is going to make any
impact on this very highly competitive
system.
In fact, the draft policy has ignored a
number of very good reforms within the
various Boards that have been
recommended over the last 20­25 years.
Many of the Boards don’t have adequate
staff, enough academic faculty to monitor
their own procedures. Many of the State
Boards are actually in very poor shape as
far as their academic infrastructure is
concerned. Even the CBSE and ICSE
operate as bureaucratic, mechanical
set­ups. Unfortunately, the policy draft
doesn’t even look at this phenomenon of
improving the institutional functioning of
the Boards.
RD: Exam reform doesn’t come alone
in the draft education policy; it comes
along with the changes recommended in
structure, curriculum, choice of subjects.
A lot is written about curriculum reform.
At this moment, in the first reading, it was
somewhat confused, and talks of too
many things simultaneously and
repetitively. For example, if we give more
flexibility to children at the secondary
level [it proposes to do away with
secondary­senior secondary distinction]
with eight semesters and around 40
courses, for 24 courses students should
take Board exams. With how much
understanding I don’t know, but they also
say the exam will shift from testing rote
memory to basic concepts and their
relevance to life, situations and
problem­solving. If the bulk of the
recommendations are implemented, then
there seems to be a possibility that we will
get a kinder and better assessment
system.
But I must point out that on the
curricular reforms to the subjects, for
example, there are 14 or 15 different kinds
of courses and subjects for 6th to 8th
standard students, but there doesn’t seem
to be that much room in the time table.
So, at this moment it seems the situation
is not very clear. However, as far as
examinations are concerned, if the policy
understands what they are writing, the
emphasis is more on the fundamental
concepts in subjects and more on
understanding. Through a modular kind
of Board exam, it might help. But then
this comes along with a whole bunch of
recommendations, and piecemeal
implementation is not going to help.
Krishna Kumar is a former director of
the National Council of Educational
Research and Training. Rohit Dhankar is
Professor of Philosophy of Education at
Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.
Please send in your answers to
dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in
e2247534
‘Phone’ means ‘sound’. ‘Telephone’ is an
instrument by means of which you can
hear what is said at a distance. Some
other words with the prefix ‘tele’ are
television, telegraph, telemeter,
telecommunication, telecast,
teleprompter, teleprinter, telescope,
telepathy...”
“Mr. N. R. Raghavan, Trustpakkam,
Mandaveli, Madras, wants to know the
meaning of ‘customer­oriented’.”
“ ‘Oriented’ means ‘directed towards’.
‘Customer­oriented’ means ‘directed
towards customers’. A customer­oriented
organisation is one that aims at satisfying
its customers.
The course is a teacher­oriented one.
‘Orientated’ is also used and is
acceptable.
This book seems to be teacher­oriented.
I am interested in one that is
learner­oriented.”
“Ms. P. Sylvester Rex, St. Theresa’s
Girls Higher Secondary School,
Thiruthuraipoondi, wants to know which
of the following is correct: (a) He is taller
than me (b) He is taller than I.”
“Both are correct. ‘He is taller than me’
is used in informal contexts. ‘He is taller
than I’ is used in formal contexts. ‘He is
taller than I’ is absolutely grammatical.
The full form is ‘He is older than I (am)’.
But we omit the verb after ‘I’. Who is it? It
is me. Here also even though grammar
demands the use of ‘I’, we don’t say ‘It is
I’. But when ‘It is’ is followed by a clause,
we can use ‘I’ or ‘me’ depending on the
context. In formal contexts, we say ‘I’ and
in informal contexts ‘me’.
It was I who did it.
It was me who did it.”
“Mr. T. Krishnarao, Palavancha,
Khammam district, wants to know the
meaning of the sentence ‘He is a rogue of
the first water’.”
“ ‘Of the first water’ means ‘of the
finest quality or extreme degree’. This is
an idiom. ‘He is a rogue of the first water’
means ‘He is one of the worst rogues’.
The idiom can be used with good and bad
things.
These are pearls of the first water.
He is a violinist of the first water.
He committed a blunder of the first
water.
She is a liar of the first water.
A fine diamond is a diamond of the first
water. The colour or brightness of a
diamond is called its water. From this, we
get the expression ‘of the first water’.”
“Ms. S. S. Panigrahi, Berhampur, wants
to know whether ‘compare’ can be used
as a noun.”
“ ‘Compare’ is used as a noun in
literary language. It means ‘comparison’.
It is usually preceded by ‘beyond’ or
‘without’.
It is beautiful beyond compare.
It means that it is extraordinarily
beautiful; there is nothing like it.”
Published in The Hindu on January 1,
1991.

Today marks the 48th death anniversary of one of India’s well known film
directors, Ritwik Ghatak. Here is a quiz on his works
Srinivasan Ramani Ghatak that one will immediately Questions and Answers to the previous day’s daily quiz:
associate the phrase, “pathetic 1. Ronaldo was named after which famous world leader. Ans:
X fallacy” with. Also what does the Ronald Reagan
QUESTION 1 phrase mean? 2. The nationality of Ronaldo and the club under which he
One of Ritwik Ghatak’s most X made his professional debut in 2003. Ans: Portugal and
well known films, it inspired QUESTION 4 Sporting Clube de Portugal
similar films in other Officially produced by Habibur 3. The common factor connecting Ronaldo, David Beckham,
languages, such as K. Rahman Khan from Bangladesh, the Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, and George Best. Ans: They have
Balachander’s Arangetram in India­Bangladesh joint collaborative all sported the #7 shirt at Manchester United
Tamil. Name the film. effort of a film is still listed among 4. The two major tournament titles that Ronaldo won with the
X the best Bangladeshi films ever senior Portugal side. Ans: UEFA European Championship in
QUESTION 2 made, and Ghatak won the Best 2016 and the UEFA Nations League in 2019
The film in question 1 was Director award from Bangladesh 5. In 2009, Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid in a deal that had
part of a trilogy that dealt Cine Journalists’ Association for the this much money involved. Ans: €94 million
with the aftermath of the film. Name the film. 6. The Bs in the striking trio nicknamed BBC at Real Madrid.
Partition of Bengal and how X Ans: Bale and Benzema
the refugees coped with it. QUESTION 5 7. Ronaldo finished as second­best to this player for the Ballon
Name the other two films by Name the Hindi film, scripted by d'Or in 2018. Ans: Luka Modric For feedback and suggestions for
Ghatak. Ghatak, which marked the X Visual: The nickname given to this famous celebration. Ans: Text & Context, please write to
X directorial debut of another Hindi Visual question: The 'Siuu' celebration letters@thehindu.co.in
QUESTION 3 filmmaking legend Hrishikesh Name the two actors in this image taken from Ghatak’s most Early Birds: Nikhil S.B.| K.N. Viswanathan| Akshat Tiwari| with the subject ‘Text & Context’
Name the well known film by Mukherjee. well known film. Vineet Giri| Vinod Chandra Raiguni
CM A IN-X
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